Dad watches fianc¨¦ give birth from ICU via Facetime after horrific bike accident
By Heidi Krause|
An Adelaide mum has revealed that she was forced to give birth to her first child while her fianc¨¦ was fighting for his life in the ICU after a horrific motorbike accident.
Sharing her story with Tiny Hearts Education, Skye Nekamp detailed how the couple's world was shattered in a matter of seconds three days before she went into labour.
"Five seconds is all it took for our world to be turned upside down," she wrote. "We had a typical night, just dinner at dads, where Josh had told me he planned to go riding the next day. His last ride before becoming a daddy."
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The following day, Josh Matonia was in a serious accident while riding his motorbike near Monarto, South Australia.
"He was unresponsive at the scene and choking on his own blood, barely breathing." the mum-of-one shared. "It took 2.5 hours to get him stable enough to transport him via helicopter to the hospital."
Meanwhile, Skye had been feeling unwell with gestational diabetes and was trying to take a nap when Josh's friend called to say he had been in an accident and "hurt his knee".
When they finally arrived at the hospital, Skye learned the true extent of Josh's life-threatening injuries.
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"We were told his injuries were the worst some of the surgeons have ever seen and that he should not be alive," Skye continued in the blog post. "His body has been through an extreme amount of trauma."
His injuries included "broken ribs, a collapsed lung, split spleen, lost kidney, broken back, cracked the top of his pelvis, ripped the muscle of his pelvis, shattered his knee cap, and had a major internal bleed requiring four units of blood. Along with bruising and puncture wounds over his body".
Skye then had "three minutes to go in and potentially say goodbye" before Josh was taken into surgery for six hours.
"It was devastating," she revealed. "Five seconds nearly took him from us. It nearly meant that our baby wouldn't have his daddy."
By Thursday, a heavily pregnant Skye was feeling "really unwell" so went into hospital to get checked, but was reassured it was just stress and to get some rest.
At 1.30am on Friday morning, her waters broke and she went straight back to the hospital.
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Sure enough, Skye was in early labour (36+4 weeks) at the same hospital where Josh lay fighting for his life after surgery.
"This little man decided that he was sick of leaving his daddy in the hospital and that he wanted to stay just down the corridor from him instead," Skye explained. "It was at this stage we got Josh on the phone via Facetime. His friend had to hold the phone as he was too weak to hold it."
After an hour and 30 minutes of pushing, baby Xander was born.
"This is not how we had planned our little boy's arrival, but we have made the best out of a terrible situation, and our little man was already so loved by his daddy, who had a visit every morning and night," the Adelaide mum wrote, while also sharing emotional videos of the experience on TikTok.
It's been eight months since the accident and while Josh is back at home and still has another major surgery to undergo, he should soon be on the road to recovery, according to Skye.
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Many people chimed in with support for Skye and her family after the post was shared to social media.
"What a traumatic time for all of them and their family. What a strong Mumma!," said one.
"You can tell how strong she is, not because she wanted to be but because she had to be," commented another.
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